Looking Beyond The Resume
The current pool of available talent is larger
, and more diverse than ever. This fact alone should tempt managers to rethink their hiring practices. The quantity of people and the skills they have to offer can be overwhelming for companies trying to find the best fit for available jobs. The volume and quality of submitted resumes may breed anxiety for those trying to pick the best applicant.
Pre-hire assessments can help to alleviate the stress caused from hundreds of worthy resumes, by revealing an individual's behavioral tendencies, attitude, reliability and propensity for substance abuse and attitudes toward theft.
It is common knowledge that the majority of resumes contain fabricated or exaggerated information. Assessments can determine how effective an applicant could be on the job, and calculate the validity of the facts presented in each resume. Assessments can enhance the hiring process and allow managers to make accurate selections based on people rather than paper.
Although a resume might boast an impressive number of previously held positions or internships, it will not tell you if the person is punctual or reliable. An assessment can evaluate a person's work ethic, reliability, and attitudes toward absenteeism and tardiness. Numerous positions or internships may seem impressive on paper, but in reality the person could be so unreliable that no one was interested in keeping them employed.
A recent survey by CCH Inc. reported, "The nation's 300 largest employers estimate that unscheduled absenteeism costs their businesses more than $760,000 a year in direct payroll costs." That doesn't even include the cost of lower productivity, lost revenue and the effects of poor morale. Tardiness and absenteeism cost businesses money, and hiring someone that is going to cost you money, rather than gain revenue, is not in the best interest of the company. Assessments can quantify a person's habits and attitudes before they become an employee of your business.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict that eight percent of people 12 years of age and over have used illicit drugs in the past month. No resume is going to include information about an individual's struggles with substance abuse, and no one seeking employment is going to admit to that in an interview. Drug testing costs money, as do background checks. Most companies would prefer to have an all inclusive background check before ordering a drug test.
Assessments can verify an individual's propensity for substance abuse before they are considered for hire. A candidate may seem like an upstanding individual on paper, but in reality they may struggle with issues that could potentially be harmful to themselves, other employees, and the business.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 75 percent of all employees steal at least once, and one in three business failures are the direct result of employee theft. These statistics are discouraging, and should concern hiring managers looking to fill positions. Choosing a person who is less likely to steal from the company cannot be determined from simply glancing over a glossy resume and having a short interview.
Pre-hire assessments can identify applicant's views on personal integrity and calculate their probability of stealing. They also offer specified questions based upon the applicant's results that can be used during an initial interview to better understand a person's true attitude toward theft. Employees are supposed to generate revenue for their businesses, not steal from them.
Laziness can also be considered theft, because if an employee isn't working while on the clock, that can be considered stealing money from the company. Resumes may falsely imply that a candidate is capable of being effective in the offered position, when in reality they do not possess the necessary behaviors to do the job.
If a person does not have the aptitude necessary for a position, they may fail to remain constantly engaged in their work. This is difficult to discern simply by reading a resume. Pre-hire assessments can measure a person's work ethic. This information can be used by hiring managers to gage a person's worth to the company aside from the skills they may offer. If a person is unwilling to work to get the job done, they will most likely waste their time as well as company time, and in business time is money.
Resumes are an important factor in deciding who will fill positions in a company, but they are biased and do not reveal a person's true character. Pre-hire assessments reveal the behaviors and attitudes that correlate with a work environment that a resume cannot show.
The current available talent can seem overwhelming to hiring managers, but there is a more effective way to distinguish worthy candidates than by judging their choice of font. Pre-hire assessments offer a solution to an otherwise abstract decision making process, and will save companies time and money when they hire the best candidate.
by: Jim Sirbasku
Are You Tripping Over Your Resume Missteps? Standing Out In A Crowd Of Resumes